Episode 788: The Deepest Mailbag Dive
Date December 28, 2015 Summary Ben and Sam banter about player privacy concerns, then dig (very) deep into the mailbag for questions that time forgot. Topics * Revokable waivers * Reviewing fantasy baseball trades * Pitching to batters based on their lineup spot * Hitting performance under pain * Average person hitting off MLB pitchers * Player without any true outcomes Intro Matthew Sweet, "Time Capsule" Outro The Easybeats, "Remember Sam" Episode outtake sound clip Banter * Sam is leading the publication of the Baseball Prospectus annual, which is almost completed. * Sam is trying to establish what questions a team could ask a player that would be deemed too invasive. He suggests the idea of asking about birth weight but Ben does not think that would cause an issue. * Do teams have a right to subject unsigned prospects to extensive medical exams before signing them? Email Questions * Michael: "What is the point of putting a player like Matt Latos on revokable waivers when there is no way a team is going to trade them? Why subject the player to the thought they could still be traded in the next few days?" * Christian: "I send McCutchen and Josh Beckett and get Bryce Harper and Matt Latos, 10 teams category league." * Gabe: "There are reports that Yasiel Puig might lead off for the Dodgers this year. Don Mattingly was reported saying that the thought process behind this move is to get Puig more fastballs. Traditional thinking says leadoff guys will get a plethora of fastballs to keep the top of the lineup off the bases to prevent the middle of lineup from hitting with runners on. However with a hitter like Puig who lacks plate discipline at this point in his career and will chase balls out of the zone and doesn't handle or lay off breaking balls real well, will pitchers pitch him like a traditional leadoff guy? Do pitchers still pitch to hitters according to their place in the lineup or will they rely on scouting reports? If in some crazy universe the Blue Jays batted Jose Bautista ninth would pitchers still pitch to him like Jose Bautista or a nine hole hitter? Going back to Puig, if pitchers continue to get Puig out with breaking balls and pitches out of the zone couldn't the Dodgers counter by batting someone like Dee Gordon ninth, assuming he gets on base higher than a .313 clip, to increase his chances of stealing bases off breaking balls or balls in the dirt?" * Guy: "I always think about this whenever a player fouls a ball off his body during an at-bat. If pain causes an adrenaline rush in the brain and adrenaline increases focus, vision, strength, and speed, do you think its possible that a hitter has a better chance of hitting the ball hard immediately after fouling a pitch off his foot, pitch, leg, or other body part assuming there is no deeper injury inhibiting the swing? Is there any conceivable way of measuring this?" * Eric: "I feel like the question of how an average person would do in MLB has been covered before, but I have a bit of a different question. Assuming I'm an average male and I have infinite opportunities in my current physical state (near my physical prime though sadly Ben can attest I'm nothing special) how many ABs would it take for me to hit a home run off a league average pitcher?" * Brett: "If you were in charge of a big league club and you had a pitcher and a hitter, both of whom projected to have no true outcomes in the upcoming season but projected to be average in all other respects, who would you plan to trust with more batters faced or plate appearances?" * Matthew (Wellington, NZ): "Would David Phelps fit as the #5 starter next year or is he better suited for a long man or late inning type role? Or would the Yankees be better served in including him in a trade for somebody this offseason?" Notes * Ben, "I don't really know if I'm pro-baby." * Sam says he has 3,283 emails labeled as for the podcast, Ben has 4,614. Sam randomly clicks on emails to answer during the episode. * Sam, "Isn't fun to be in a mental space where Matt Latos was seen as being something better than garbage? Contract garbage not human garbage, although we can debate." * Teams will sometimes put every player on revokable waivers in order to disguise the players that they do want to get through the system. * In Episode 1105 Ben and Jeff discuss with Alex Hassan whether a normal person could get a hit during a season's worth of at-bats. * Matthew's question was the first that Ben and Sam received. * Ned Garver, interviewed in Episode 722, turned 90 on Christmas; several listeners have written him letters and received autographed cards. * Chris Mosch, interviewed in Episode 779, was hired as a player development intern for the Los Angeles Angels. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 788: The Deepest Mailbag Dive * New biometric tests invade the NBA by Pablo Torre and Tom Haberstroh Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes